ZocDoc, Office of Baby Think You Deserve an #UnsickDay Off

So, what’s up with the fact that you have to classify your days off work as “sick,” “personal” or “vacation?” No really, why do employees need to tell HR what sort of day they will be taking, when the whole point is that they won’t be in the office?

A new campaign for ZocDoc by New York’s Office of Baby addresses the paid elephant in the room: people take days off for totally practical reasons whether they happen to be sick or not, and one of those reasons is getting all of your appointments out of the way. When was the last time you got your teeth cleaned, honestly?

Yeah OK, we guess this is why HR geniuses created personal days in the first place. But wouldn’t it be a little more honest to call them “Unsick Days?”

We kind of love the ghosting thing, but ZocDoc isn’t joking around about any of this.

The press release tell us that “86% of working Americans say they have cancelled or delayed a preventative care appointment due to workplace pressures,” even though you do have an insurance plan that covers this sort of thing unless you’re employed by someone called Uber. People only work in advertising for the benefits, right?

ZocDoc is actually for real reaching out to companies to encourage them to give all employees one “unsick day” to get their blood pressure checked and figure out how much longer they have on this sad planet.

And there’s an UnsickDay website in case you want to petition the company without letting your employer know that you’re pulling a total Judas because you’re afraid of that very same HR department.

“We want this, and efforts like this to be a major part of who we are,” said the client’s VP of communications Jessica Aptman in a statement. “Our mission is to give power to the patient, and this means not just talking about it but making real meaningful changes that make the healthcare experience better.”

Regarding the unusual creative, Office of Baby co-founder/former GS&P New York creative lead Paul Caiozzo said, “We wanted to infiltrate the workplace from all angles. It was just as important to explain the idea as to provide ammunition for individuals to communicate the idea within their own company.”

Those companies shouldn’t feel threatened, though: 49 percent of people surveyed said they’d be more likely to stay with an employer that offered just such a benefit. Virgin Hotels, Foursquare, Oscar and Handy are already on board, and ZocDoc distributed such common items as “pens, notepads, lunch bags, hand sanitizer, chapstick, [and] stress balls” to participating offices. We aren’t going to say that we applied on behalf of Adweek, but we aren’t going to NOT say that either.

The full campaign will include more video in addition to OOH posters, web designs and social media promotions.